THE PLAINS, VA -- The Clarke County boys and girls became the first teams since the 1984-1986 Blacksburg squads to sweep the VHSL state team championships for three consecutive years. Meeanwhile, Radford junior Nathan Brame stopped Clarke County senior Simon Biddle-Snead from joining a short list of three-time individual champions by living up to his freshmen year predictions of state win two years later in 16:38. Buffalo Gap senior Mariah Hagadone had a great finish to overtake pre-race favorites Brittany Killough of Buffalo Gap and Sophia Holmes of Clarke County on the final stretch for the win.
The Clarke boys ruled Group A once again as they tallied a team score of 23 points with six of their runners earning All-State honors. Biddle-Snead was obviously disappointed in his runner-up finish to rival Brame, but could rejoice in the team victory with the performances by his fellow teammates. Biddle-Snead (2nd, 16:53.03) was surprisingly challenged by Lebanon junior Jakob Maidens (3rd, 16:53.23) as they battled to the line and there was some despute over which runner crossed the line first with only two tenths of a second separating the two runners.
Clarke County had a 44 second spread between their top five with Biddle-Snead, Chris York (4th, 17:11), Daniel Callan (5th, 17:28), Bryan Broy (6th, 17:29), and Ben Veilleux (10th, 17:37) all finishing in the top ten places individually. Clarke County junior Joe Racer (15th, 17:55) raised the number to six All-State finishers by the Eagles, which was more than any team at the state meet. In the combined state meet scoring, Clarke County held its own finishing seventh and ahead of quality AA and AAA teams such as Mountain View, Western Albemarle, and West Springfield.
The Brame and Biddle-Snead battle lasted through roughly half the race as the Radford junior Nathan Brame broke away from Biddle-Snead on the switch back hills prior to the two miles and built up on the lead to win by 15 seconds in a final time of 16:38. It was Brame\'s first state championship in cross country and win over Biddle-Snead after winning the 1600 meter state title last spring in outdoor track. However, his message board predictions in the past of winning a state title and the fact he had two subpar state cross country races heading into Saturday left a stigma on him he could not shed. With his victory on Saturday over Biddle-Snead and the rest of the field, he can move on from that past with a state championship to build on.
Brame also helped lead Radford to a state runner-up finish behind Clarke County with 82 points as they were a distant second place, but well ahead of Page County in third place with 156 points. Radford sophomore Charles Mogen joined Brame on the All-State team with a seventh place run of 17:31.
Coach Stan Price\'s Page County boys were led by his son in senior Ethan Price with an eighth place run of 17:34.
The Clarke County girls (46 pts) had three runners in the top 15 to lead the way for 36 point win over Region B rival Altavista (82 pts). The Lady Eagles had two of the top underclassmen in the race with state runner-up sophomore Sophia Holmes (19:37) and sophomore Erin Broy (6th, 20:23). 2004 Group A state champion in junior Danielle Moyer (11th, 21:11) gave Clarke County three runners in the top 15.
Region B swept the state meet podium with the top three girls teams all coming from the region with Clarke County, Altavista, and George Mason (3rd, 106 pts). Altavista had three runners in the top 25 with All-State freshmen Sarah Murphy (9th, 20:51), seniorMeagan Chapman (16th, 21:34), and sophomore Alex Hines (23rd, 22:10).
The George Mason girls were led by junior Susanna Sullivan who snuck past early race leader Brittany Killough of J.J. Kelly (4th, 19:56) for third place with a time of 19:53.
After finishing second to Clarke County\'s Holmes at the Region B Meet, Buffalo Gap senior Mariah Hagadone was considered a threat to win, but not a necessarily strong favorite. With the regional win by Holmes strengthening her position and J.J. Kelly senior Brittany Killough also being considered a stronger favorite with her three All-State races at AAA\'s Franklin County the last three Novembers at Great Meadows and rolling the competition in Southwest Virginia this fall, Hagadone was looked to finish at best third. However, there is a good reason why run the races.
A pack of four with Holmes, Killough, Glenvar freshmen Megan Marsico, and Hagadone ran together through for most of the first two miles with Marsico dropping off the from the group as they hit the double hump hills in the last mile. As the entered the gate and inside the fence line, Holmes seemed to have broken away from Killough and Hagadone. However, Hagadone had an extra burst of energy to leave Killough behind and go for Holmes. Hagadone pulled even Holmes with less than 200 meters to go and kept pushing to the line to win by eight seconds in 19:29 for her first state cross country championship. Hagadone excels in the middle distance events on the track and her 2:19 800 meter defending state champion speed helped her close for the win.